With more and more reported crimes involving a cyber element police are launching a campaign to enable islanders to further protect themselves.
Over the coming year islanders will be given advice in a number of ways to help them stay safe online.
The campaign has four key strands – young people, the elderly, home security and businesses. Each group is vulnerable in different ways and targeted advice will be issued to each.
The first major element to the campaign will be a leaflet drop to every home on the island to coincide with the Safer Internet Day on February 10th.
The leaflet gives 10 top tips to homeowners on how to protect themselves, as well as where to find further advice on each specific area.
Detective Chief Inspector Chris Beechey, the force lead on cybercrime, said:
“Many people think that they term “cybercrime” only refers to hacking, but in reality it is much broader. We are seeing more and more criminals moving from traditional forms of crime into the cyber environment and we want to help people further protect themselves".
“Cybercrime generally refers to any offence that takes place online, it can be anything from being coaxed into sending someone money after meeting them on an online dating website, to a criminal accessing your smart phone data and apps through an intercepted public Wi-Fi area”.
Our key message to the public is that up to 80% of cybercrime is easily preventable by making small and simple changes to the way we use the internet technology. The advice we provide throughout the year will help you do this.
